Enter into Neth Space and you will find thoughts and reviews of books and other media that fit the general definition of speculative fiction. This includes the various genres and sub-genres of fantasy, science fiction, epic fantasy, high fantasy, hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, new weird, magical realism, cyberpunk, urban fantasy, slipstream, horror, alternative history, SF noir, etc. Thoughts are my own, I'm certainly not a professional, just an avid reader avoiding his day job.

Friday, March 30, 2012

K.J. Parker is a critically-acclaimed, best-selling author of
fantasy fiction. However, K.J. Parker is a pseudonym, and unlike many
pseudonyms that are essentially open secrets to anyone who digs, the identity
of K.J. Parker remains a mystery. In fact, it is not even known if K.J. Parker
is male or female. The Wikipedia entry and theories below go into more detail.**UPDATE, April 21, 2015: K.J. Parker's ID has been revealed, one of our contributors pretty well nailed it**

The internet being what it is and fantasy fans being who they are,
conversations on K.J. Parker’s identity are somewhat common on forums, Twitter,
Facebook, blogs, etc. A recent Twitter conversation of such has led to this
post, with several SFF bloggers offering up their ideas on who K.J. Parker is.
Speculation ranges from very well though-out ideas that use what evidence is
available to what are essentially wild-ass guesses. We tried to get a comment from a
representative from Parker’s publisher, Orbit, to give a comment, but we didn't receive one in a timely manner.

Make of this post what you will. On one hand it’s a (small)
internet campaign to figure out the identity of K.J. Parker, though it’s mostly
just a bunch of fun speculation among a few SFF fans and bloggers. The truth is
that we all respect the privacy of K.J. Parker and his/her desire to remain
anonymous, however our curiosity cannot be denied.

However, we also know a lot about Parker from the primary sources.
What we know about Parker appears in the books - the time in a foundry, the
professional background, even the numismatics (The Folding Knife). So what if
we stretch this a bit more. From the Scavenger Trilogy and Purple & Black,
as well as the short stories, there's quite a bit in there about very old, very
formal and very posh universities - including several instances of a middle
class protagonist being surrounded by the scions of the upper crust. So why not
put Parker at Oxford or Cambridge? (9)

Another fascinating twist - "A Small Price to Pay for
Birdsong" - involves a creator (a composer) publishing the work of another
composer, and feeling imprisoned, then freed by the experience. (10) Following
on from that, KJ Parker's real name is, probably, a published writer - not a
journalist, but an author. Following the "Birdsong" theory, the
"real" Parker was possibly already famous before the first
"Parker" book, but now "Parker" is the more popular name.
Controversial! (11)

(12): And you know what? I kind of don't want to, either. Not to
go all "death of the author", but KJ Parker's work has made Parker my
favourite author - there's nothing that Parker him/herself could add into the
mix to make me appreciate the books more.

I believe KJ Parker is none other than J.K Rowling. My
reasoning... KJ is an obvious reversal of JK. Harry Potter was first published
in 1995. In order to avoid the backlash of writing other things from hordes of
unstable preteen psychos, Rowling published under Parker in 1998. I fully
expect Rowling to admit this fact when her new adult novel is released by
Little, Brown in 2013!

This falls much closer to the wild-ass guess than anything else. I
blatantly ignore the known ‘evidence’ discussed here and elsewhere and use lots
of second-hand ‘hearsay’.

My guess on the ID of K.J. Parker is that he is no other than
best-selling author R.A. Salvatore. I’ve ‘heard’ from a couple of people who
are friends with Salvatore that he writes other fantasy novels under a
pseudonym, and that pseudonym is not known. I’ve been told that it would likely
be a surprising revelation based on the fiction that Salvatore is best known
for. And…this is the most damning evidence of all…both Parker and Salvatore
publish under initials – K.J. and R.A., respectively.

This is a question that seems to come up in online debates from
time to time. Usually it ends up with a teneous conclusion that Tom Holt is
K.J. Parker. I tend to think it’s a little bit more complex than that. I will
come to my theory later, but first I’ll look into the relationship between K.J.
Parker and Tom Holt.

TH: For the record, we’ve known each other for years, you showed
me your first novel, I showed it to my agent, he sold it to Orbit. Is that
about right?

KJP: Yes.

Of course if Tom Holt is K.J. Parker, this is completely made up.
But let’s look at the two authors biographies. (Some of this is also in the
interview.)

According to Holt’s official biography,
http://www.tom-holt.com/about.htm , he’s married, has a daughter, and lives in
Somerset in the UK. According to Parker’s official biography (the one printed
in the books), Parker lives in southern England.

So, they both live in the same part of England. Doesn’t really
prove anything, but there is more.

Holt has been a solicitor...K.J. Parker is married to a solicitor.
Which is basically the basis of my theory. Tom Holt is married to K.J. Parker.
This would explain why, as in the quote above, Holt read Parker’s first book
and showed it to his agent.

There is some more
circumstantial evidence to supprt this. Namely Tom Holt’s books. I have the
first six “Tom Holt Omnibus” volumes. They contain twelve novels. Five of the
novels are copyrighted to Kim Holt. And four of the volumes, 1/3/4/6, are
copyrighted to Tom and Kim Holt. So it seems that they are at least two
different people. And my theory is that K.J. Parker is Kim Holt, Kim J. Parker
may even be her maiden name. Parker does say in the interview sited above that
“Unfortunately, I was KJP while JKR was still nursing a lukewarm latte in the
coffee bars of Edinburgh.” The first K.J. Parker book was published in 1998.

An interesting aside to my theory, is that Tom and Kim Holt may
have functioned as a husband and wife writing team, much like David and Leigh
Eddings. They may still do, maybe all Tom Holt and K.J. Parker books are
written by them together. Or maybe it even could be that Tom Holt is a front,
and Kim Holt has written all the books. In the interview Parker says: “I don’t
do interviews or publicity stuff with, well, strangers, essentially. Not the
world’s most articulate person, with people I don’t know.”

I could off course be incorrect, and Tom Holt is really the man
behind the K.J. Parker pseudonym. Giving his wife, or it may even be his
daughter, copyright credit on his books for financial/inheritance reasons. But
from the evidence I have, I’ll go with K.J. Parker being Kim Holt, Tom Holt’s
wife.

I'm not a big fan of awards, and I don't have the time or inclination to go into detail here. But I love Priest's reaction to the shortlist. I wish we had more of these - but only if they are of the same high quality as Priest's writing. It doesn't matter if you agree with him, think he was taking cheap shots and beating up puppies. It doesn't matter if the article invoked rage, sorrow, joyfull glee, or a reminder that you're behind on TPS reports again. It's good, balanced, writing, if rather sharp-edged. I very nearly laughed outload at times due to the harsh audacity through which Priest channels hs rage. And some of the quotes in this - priceless!

Miéville has already won the Clarke Award three times – which is not his fault...

For fuck’s sake, it is a quest saga and it has a talking horse.

Anyway, as you'd expect, reactions are stacking up around the intranets like lies on a political campaign (or comprises in a panel of judges?). [this is where I turn and look embarrassingly at the camera, or is that just insanely bad blogging fit for no award?]. I've gathered up a few of those reactions here, but I'm certian to be missing a few (EDIT: I'll be updating the list below as I find other reactions that interest me).

Monday, March 26, 2012

From time to
time there are mix-ups and I get sent more than one copy of a book for review.
Often I give away those books in one way or another, and this is one such case.
Since I’ve got an extra copy of The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu
(Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound), I’m going to give it away to a
lucky Neth Space reader.

Among
inhospitable and unforgiving seas stands Khalakovo, a mountainous archipelago
of seven islands, its prominent eyrie stretching a thousand feet into the sky.
Serviced by windships bearing goods and dignitaries, Khalakovo's eyrie stands
at the crossroads of world trade. But all is not well in Khalakovo. Conflict
has erupted between the ruling Landed, the indigenous Aramahn, and the
fanatical Maharraht, and a wasting disease has grown rampant over the past
decade. Now, Khalakovo is to play host to the Nine Dukes, a meeting which will
weigh heavily upon Khalakovo's future. When an elemental spirit attacks an
incoming windship, murdering the Grand Duke and his retinue, Prince Nikandr,
heir to the scepter of Khalakovo, is tasked with finding the child prodigy
believed to be behind the summoning. However, Nikandr discovers that the boy is
an autistic savant who may hold the key to lifting the blight that has been
sweeping the islands. Can the Dukes, thirsty for revenge, be held at bay? Can
Khalakovo be saved? The elusive answer drifts upon the "Winds of
Khalakovo"...

Entry is easy
– just send me an email at nethspace [at] gmail [dot] com. Remove the anti-spam
measures as appropriate or use the handy link in the sidebar. Include WINDS as
the email subject and make sure to include your full mailing address. Only one
entry per person and this contest is open to anyone (though winners not from
the US can expect that it’ll take a while for your book to arrive). The contest
is open for about 2 weeks – enter by April 6, 2012.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Epic fantasy has traditionally tended to be a conservative genre
at its heart. The overall goal of the quest to save the world is generally to
preserve the status quo, not to create fundamental change for the better of
people and their society. It’s typically a pretty standard hero, often of
modest, rural (and therefore generally conservative) origins who saves the day
and ascends to the role of the next monarch. And while this is perhaps changing
the most, the hero is also quite often a young, good-looking white male.

Epic fantasy of the last ten years or so often seeks to subvert
many of the tropes I just mentioned. Heroes are grey, often not quite so
heroic. The worlds and people within them are often now ‘gritty’, darker and
more dangerous. The term ‘realistic’ often comes about, regardless of just how
absurd the concept of reality is to whatever the term graces. Perhaps some
change is sought, or maybe the good guys don’t win, or maybe the world is set
in a place where the bad guy has already won, or just maybe no real victory is
won at all. But with the Acacia TrilogyDavid Anthony Durham goes in a different direction. Real, fundamental change
occurs. Realization of the evils that the rule of the ‘good guys’ inflict is a
key component. Class divisions, drugs, slavery, political elite, political
movers and shakers, the corruption of power and magic, invading barbarians,
ethnic tensions, and real ethical concerns dominate both the words of the
trilogy and what’s written between those words. And there is actual discussion
of whether outright slaughter/genocide of the ‘bad guys’ should be the goal.

However, the politics and ethics that I describe above are
integrated seamlessly into the plot that drives the trilogy. They are often
fairly subtle and things are never didactic. The trilogy is still epic fantasy –
there are cool beasts and monsters, there are dragons (of sorts), there is
magic, there are vast armies that meet in battle and single combat between
champions. Acacia embraces many of
the essential elements of epic fantasy, only through a different moral and
ethical lens.

The trilogy follows a group of four brothers and sisters from
childhood to adulthood and (in some cases) to death. The Akarans are the
children of the King of the Known Lands and are the latest in a long ruling
dynasty from the island and ethnic group of Acacia. The Akaran dynasty rules
over what is essentially an empire of many subjected small nations and the
reader soon learns that they rule through very disturbing means. Selected
children of the population are sold into slavery in a distant and unknown land
in exchange for a drug that the ruling elite use to mollify the population. After
the initial set-up and introduction to the Akaran children, we follow them as
they grow, as Akaran rule is usurped and regained, as magic is rediscovered and
as people from the distant Other Lands invade and the world grows larger.

The series begins with Acacia:
The War With the Mein (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound, my review) and something of a slow start. Durham’s roots as a writer lie in
literary and historical fiction rather than SFF and he shows some of his naivety
as he embraces tropes that often feel far too close to other epic fantasy
works. Some of his characters come across as too great and achieve the status
of Mary/Gary Sue. And Durham’s distinctive writing style is just a bit
different than much of what is more common in the epic fantasy world – it’s not
that it’s a hard style to read, just one that takes some adjustment. However,
by the end of The War With the Mein,
Durham finds his stride and the series quickly evolves into one of the most
important epic fantasy series to be published in years.

The second, The Other Lands
(Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound, my review), and third, The Sacred Band (Book Depository, Powell’sBooks, Indiebound, my review), books are each better than what comes before.
The series evolves in scope as it moves beyond the Known Lands and implications
become even greater as the moral and ethical challenges grow in importance through in
time. And, the series has another triumph to boast about – a great ending. All
too often the end of a series just doesn’t work as well as the build-up would
imply. While I can see a case for disagreeing with me, I think that Durham
pulled off the ending in a near-perfect fashion. The ending is idealistic – the
good guys win, though not necessarily survive. Hope for the future is real.
Systemic societal problems actually seem to be solved. I think many may
complain that the ending is too neat and pretty, too unrealistic. But I think
this is the point – Durham wants to show what a progressive message in epic
fantasy can look like. Not the conservative, nostalgic end so common and not a
cynical response to that conservatism. He presents a truly progressive move
forward rather than backward or a simple reestablishment of a status quo – a vision
of hope that could translate into our own lives and society.

Durham’s Acacia Trilogy
provides an encouraging departure from both the traditionally conservative fantasy
and the increasingly common cynical response. Durham presents an epic fantasy that
is hopeful and progressive – I would even consider the use of the word liberal
if it weren't so politically tainted these days. In doing so, he never loses site
of the goal to write an engaging story that fans of epic fantasy can embrace. Acacia is one of the most exciting and
important fantasy series that’s been published in the last 10 years, and it’s a
shame that more aren’t reading it.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Well, last week was Spring Break - the kids were off and there was a small trip. In the past day and a half we've gotten around 2.5 feet of snow, so school was cancelled today. My wife is traveling for the next 3 days so I'm single dad until she returns. And I've got a major proposal due at work. All of this adds up to no real content in the next few days. Oh, and I see a lot of the blogs I follow are having makeovers - I don't expect one around here. I'm relatively happy with how things look, I don't feel the need to change, and I'm lazy.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Awesome! Some of you may recall when I (most recently) blogged about the Worldbuilder's charity drive that is sponsored every year by Patrick Rothfuss. It's a great cause and you can win books. Well, apparently my modest donation was still enough to make me a winner - apparently 3 times! I won two beautiful books from Subterranean Press - Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan Volume One (by Caitlin R. Kiernan if wasn't obvious enough) and Times Three by Robert Silverberg. I also won a children's book - Beatrice's Goat by Page McBrier and Lori Lohstoeter (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound). I've got 2 young kids and this looks like it'll be a great addition to their library. I encourage you all to donate to the next Worldbuilder's drive (and maybe win some cool books).

Update time (yet another update on why it's quite around here). I'm a broken record - I don't blog as much as I used to. I'm busy - I have full-time job, so does my wife, we have 2 kids (1 and 4) who we actually spend time with them, and I travel fairly often with work. That means I don't have much reading time and even less time for blogging. But I'll be carrying on at about the same rate as I've been over the last few months. I need to write-up a review for Arctic Rising by Tobias Buckell (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound) and I'm currently reading The Wood Wife by Terri Windling (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound). I've got a couple of whisky reviews in the queue and I still want to write up reviews for a couple of series/trilogies I've finished recently. I'm not yet sure what I'll read next, but we'll see in week or so.

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Ian C. Esslemont and Steven Erikson co-created the Malazan universe, where Erikson has completed
a massive 10-volume series of which I am a huge fan. Esslemont has supplemented
Erikson’s series with three previous books and now with Orb Sceptre Throne (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) being
the fourth. Esslemont has two more forthcoming books in the Malazan world that should function as a
sort of extended epilogue to Erikson’s series (the next being Blood and Bone possibly coming in late
2012 o early 2013, Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound), Erikson has
two more trilogies planned, with one set millennia before events in the main
series (it’s first book The Forge of
Darkness is coming in August, 2012, Book Depository, Powell’s Books,
Indiebound) and the second set after the events in the main series. Erikson has
also written a number of novellas set in the world for extra kicks.

It’s a complicated situation with story arcs dropped by one author
and picked up by the other, a huge cast of characters often with slightly
differing interpretations from each author and a few other inconsistencies
thrown into the mix. This confused complexity of the Malazan world and its creators provides the appropriate backdrop
for introducing Malazan’s latest
entry, Orb Sceptre Throne (for better
and worse). Of course if you are already a Malazan
fan (and you probably are if you’re reading this review), then you probably
know all of this and likely don’t find it so confusing. And this is equally apropos
because Orb Sceptre Throne is both a
confused mess and the next great fix for Malazan fans.

What it all simmers down to is this: Orb Sceptre Throne is a mediocre book in the Malazan world, however it is filled with juicy bits that fans will
enjoy and it provides a few answers and a fair bit of set-up for the epilogue
that Esslemont is writing for Erikson’s series.

Forget the plot summary – there’s a description that captures some
of it on the back of the book, but more importantly, even briefly summarizing
all of the different arcs of Orb Sceptre
Throne would take a couple thousand words (only a slight exaggeration). And
therein lies what is probably the biggest problem with the book – there are too
many stories being told at once. This causes a bit of confusion and prevents a
focused narrative from ever developing. This is hardly a new criticism for
books in the Malazan world – both
Erikson and Esslemont are guilty of this elsewhere. But with Erikson, there are
always thematic threads that bind the various arcs together and bring a focus
of sorts. Esslemont’s writing largely lacks the thematic depth, leaving things
far too unfocused.

Another problem holding back Esslemont’s writing is his caginess.
Yes, subtlety plays an important part in writing, information must be withheld
to maintain interest and suspense, and not every arc can or should come to a
complete resolution. However, Esslemont tends to take things too far, which
results in more confusion and frustration and brings us to what is the other
biggest problem in the book – the apparent lack of an end game.

Even the most die-hard Malazan
fans (such as myself) are probably asking what is the end game? Where is
Esslemont going with these books? Again, this is a common issue in Malazan, and I believe an intentional
one. For example – what Malazan fan
after reading the first 5 books in the series actually had an idea of where Erikson
was going with things? My guess – none, and fans were loving the wild ride. But
once again, Esslemont takes this important aspect of the overall concept of the
Malazan books too far, reversing its
effectiveness.

So far I’ve been all bad and no good – well, there is plenty of
good to be had. But make no mistake, this good is for the fans (after all, it
is essentially book 14 of a 16 book series). The fans get more Bridgeburner
action – those few remaining survivors lie at the heart of this one. The Seguleh
come alive and we see what they can do. Dassem and Caladran Brood are around,
and some of those key people we first met way back in Gardens of the Moon are back in action. We get a creation story for
the world of Wu and the fallout from the convergence at this end of this book
should have some big implications to come. And there is ever-present aspect of
Esslemont’s writing that fans either love or hate – the relative lack of philosophical
musings that Erikson populates his books with.

Ultimately, Orb Sceptre
Throne is a book only a fan could love – and that’s just fine. I consider
it one of the lesser volumes in the Malazan
world, but there is enough of a fix to keep us fans up until we get the next
installment. Due to a few conversations I’ve been privy to over the years, I
think I’ve got an idea of where Esslemont is going with all this. I just hope
he’s up to it because I think that ending could rival Erikson’s.

Monday, March 05, 2012

These days it seems that you can’t turn around without being
bombarded by an advertisement, article or something related to The Hunger Games movie. It’s clear that
with Harry Potter done, Hollywood is
attempting to fill the void with The
Hunger Games (though I like the idea of calling The Hunger Games anti-Twilight
much better than the next Harry Potter).
But the review is for the book that started the buzz – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Book Depository, Powell’sBooks, Indiebound).

Long before there was talk about the movie I was hearing good
things about The Hunger Games and it’s been on my list of books to read since
that time. I finally bought a copy, and copies of the other two books in the
series – Catching Fire (BookDepository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) and Mockingjay (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound). I must admit that I can
see why The Hunger Games has garnered
so much attention – it’s good, it’s entertaining, it appeals to more than just
a YA audience and I believe it’ll translate well into film.

The USA is long past, fallen in some not-quite-an-apocalypse
calamity in a now distant past. The nation of Panem has emerged from the ashes,
dominated by a single Capitol City that holds a dozen other cities hostage in a
dystopian regime and very stratified society. Every year the Capitol reminds
its subjects of the price of a long past revolt by holding the annual Hunger
Games – a contest where a male and female representative from each of the 12
districts all gather for a battle to the death, crowning a single victor. Only
these ‘tributes’ are children between the ages of 11 and 18.

Katniss is from District 12, a poor district that mines coal in a
place once known as Appalachia. When her younger sister is selected to be the
next tribute, she volunteers to take her place and is thrust into hypocrisy of
the Capitol and the horror of the Hunger Games. The other District 12 tribute
is Peeta, a boy who once gave her bread when she and her family were starving,
and the two of them team up to battle for their lives.

The premise of The Hunger
Games is one that shares many similarities with other works – in other
words, it’s hardly unique. However, what it lacks in originality, it makes up
in pure execution. Collins quickly and economically realizes the horror of
Panem and the Hunger Games while creating a devotion to her main characters,
particularly Katniss, whom is the sole view point in a wonderfully told
first-person narration. Katniss is easy to relate to and equally easy to cheer
for. She is a young woman who has been forced to lead an adult life through the
harsh reality she lives in. As a result, she’s never had the time or
opportunity to grow into a young woman and sexual creature. Now this book is
not exactly a romance and there is no sex, but it’s as much a story of young
woman struggling with her sexuality as it is a tale of survival in mad,
dystopian world.

The Hunger Games is a perfect storm for the
YA crowd – it’s about a young girl awakening as sexual being, it’s about
rebelling against authority, it’s about a complicated relationship with
parents, it’s about devotion to friends, it’s about a teenager thrown into
stardom and it’s topped off with a good bit of gratuitous violence and death. And
while these are the sort of things that appeal strongly to a YA age group, they
are also just the sort of thing that those of us who have left those years
behind us (even far behind) can also get behind and get excited about. In
short, The Hunger Games is a
near-perfect YA cross-over.

Combining the cross-over appeal with the relatively small cast and
limited viewpoint, the result is a book that could translate well into film if
given the proper treatment. Now, this is a review of the book and as of the time
of publication of this review, the movie is not yet released. I have not seen the
movie, nor have I been following the pre-release buzz, fan and author
reactions. But it certainly appears that The
Hunger Games is poised to be a wildly-popular book and movie. And while I’ve gone on record in the past bemoaning the
potential consequences of books and similar media becoming movies and/or TV
shows, it’s become clear that the positive aspects cannot be denied.

Knowing that this book is the first in a trilogy pretty much
leaves the reader knowing the ending before they get to it. While I won’t spoil
things directly, I will say that it ends more or less as expected – at least as
far as Katniss is concerned. However, the ultimate ending (as in the last page
or three) is a bit more complicated. While it’s tough to call it a
cliff-hanger, it is somewhat abrupt and the reader can’t help but wonder about
what will come next. And frankly, I think that the events in The Hunger Games will be very hard to
top in the rest of the trilogy. This both excites me and makes me a bit anxious
(in a negative way) – this either sets up the following books to be very
rewarding as they top the first, or to be disappointing. And for whatever
reason, I lean toward thinking I’ll be let down, making me want to leave the
series now when I think so highly of it. I imagine that I will move on and read
Catching Fire, but this (unfair?) trepidation
is making it a bit of a lower priority.

The buzz surrounding The
Hunger Games is deafening and in my opinion, deserved. Collins tells an
engaging story full of near-universal challenges faced by teens across the
Western world. It’s heartfelt and fun, in spite of covering some rather dark
territory. It appeals directly to the YA crowd without excluding an older
audience. And it presents a great template that could be a great movie. Read it
now and endure the buzz, because it’s not going away.

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About Me

I’m just a guy avoiding the responsibilities of my day job by blogging about the books I love. Far from being a true critic, I’m just a fan who has come to love sharing my thoughts on the books I read and other general happenings in the SFF world. The side bar has plenty of links to contact info, reviewing policy, and indexes of reviews and other posts in addition to numerous links of interest.